Volleyball fans disappointed by untelevised PH women’s game

MANILA, Philippines – Fans of the Philippine women’s volleyball team were left disappointed after the team’s first match in the Southeast Asian Games since 2005 was not aired live.

The game against Indonesia on Wednesday, June 10, was advertised to air live on AksyonTV, owned and operated by Philippine television network TV5.

TV5 is the official Philippine broadcast partner of the 28th SEA Games in Singapore, which run until June 16.

When the game went live at 12 noon, AksyonTV was showing a replay of a Perlas Pilipinas women’s basketball game while TV5 aired a replay of Philippine boxer Josie Gabuco’s match against a Singaporean boxer on Monday.

The live stream posted on the Sports Singapore YouTube channel – which has streamed the 2015 SEA Games events and posted highlights/replays – disappeared from the page, while the video player Rappler had embeded on its live blog page stated that the stream was “private.”

Shortly after the game started, Vincent “Chot” Reyes, who heads Sports5 and Digital5, released a statement on Twitter, claiming that the issue was with the Singapore organizers and that the game would be aired at 7 pm.

“Due to tech issues w Singapore host broadcaster, we’re unable to receive d live feed of Women’s volleyball. We will air at 7pm later @AksyonTV,” read the first tweet.

This was followed by another from the former Gilas Pilipinas coach. “Much to our regret, host broadcaster says they’ll have the feed up by 6pm later. Even their YouTube channel doesn’t have it, same with other countries.”

Due to tech issues w Singapore host broadcaster,were unable to receive d live feed of Women’s volleyball.We will air at 7pm later @AksyonTV

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) June 10, 2015

Shortly after, TV5 released another statement, saying it would not be able to air a delayed telecast of the game due to non-coverage of the game by Singapore broadcasters.

“TV5 regrets that it will not be able to air the delayed telecast of the Women’s Volleyball match between Philippines and Indonesia due to the official Singapore 28th SEA Games broadcaster’s failure to cover the event,” the statement reads. “All other participating countries were also unable to broadcast their respective games during this period.”

Instead, Aksyon will televise the men’s volleyball team’s game against Malaysia on delayed telecast in that same time slot.

The Philippine women’s volleyball team, which includes SEA Games flag-bearer and reigning UAAP MVP Alyssa Valdez, is among the most popular attractions of this installment of the biennial event.

They lost their opening match to the reigning SEA Games bronze medalists in straight sets, 25-22, 25-20, 25-14.

There were no livestream issues involving the Gilas Cadets basketball game against Indonesia, which aired live as advertised on TV5 at 1 pm. The beginning of the game overlapped with the third set of the volleyball game, leading some social media commenters to call foul.

“My opinion: two popular events at the same time — delay one to maximize viewership for both. Hope to God I’m wrong,” wrote Twitter user @SamYunono.

There should be no conflict in schedules when both super-popular squads face Malaysian teams on Thursday. The Philippine men’s basketball team will play their game at 4 pm while the women’s volleyball team takes the court at 10 am.

Both games are advertised to air live, with volleyball on Aksyon and basketball on TV5. – Rappler.com